Changes coming to The Free Press

Published: Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 07:37 PM.

The Free Press will return to a more traditional newspaper format on Thursday, May 1, ending nearly a five-year run as a modified tabloid that the newspaper called its compact edition.

With a change in page length from the current 15 inches to a length of 22-3/4 inches, The Free Press will revert to the format to which readers had become accustomed over the newspaper’s previous 125-plus years of publication. Many readers and advertisers were vocal in their criticism of the smaller tabloid format when it was introduced in 2009.

Many of the complaints concerned a lack of sectioning — in its current tabloid format, pages run continuously in a single section. With the return to the traditional size, known in the industry as “broadsheet,” The Free Press once again will be divided into sections, with separate sections focusing on different content, such as sports and classifieds. The width of the page also will be slightly larger.

With the larger format will come a new design, with changes in layout and typography in the works. The intent is to make the newspaper more accessible and easier to read, Editor Bryan C. Hanks said in making the announcement on Thursday.

The Free Press will return to a more traditional newspaper format on Thursday, May 1, ending nearly a five-year run as a modified tabloid that the newspaper called its compact edition.

With a change in page length from the current 15 inches to a length of 22-3/4 inches, The Free Press will revert to the format to which readers had become accustomed over the newspaper’s previous 125-plus years of publication. Many readers and advertisers were vocal in their criticism of the smaller tabloid format when it was introduced in 2009.

Many of the complaints concerned a lack of sectioning — in its current tabloid format, pages run continuously in a single section. With the return to the traditional size, known in the industry as “broadsheet,” The Free Press once again will be divided into sections, with separate sections focusing on different content, such as sports and classifieds. The width of the page also will be slightly larger.

With the larger format will come a new design, with changes in layout and typography in the works. The intent is to make the newspaper more accessible and easier to read, Editor Bryan C. Hanks said in making the announcement on Thursday.

Hanks said the newspaper has met with people in the community for nearly a year to discuss a possible change back to broadsheet.

“When the decision to go to the compact edition was made almost five years ago, it was met with a lot of deserved negativity from a community that loves its Free Press,” Hanks said. “Simply put, we’ve listened to our readers and are trying to rectify the mistake that was made at that time. It was a bad move and we’re fixing it.”

Advertisers have told Free Press Advertising Director Matt Holbrook and his veteran staff that a bigger page would give them a greater opportunity to showcase their products and services, while readers were as concerned about sectioning as they were page size, Hanks said.

“Our readers and what they think about The Free Press are the most important things to us,” he said. “We tried many times to address the lack of sections in the paper over the years, but printing limitations with the compact edition format kept us from being able to do it.”

In focus groups held since last summer, participants felt the newspaper was less organized in the compact format.

The Free Press also has held meetings with readers on several occasions to receive their feedback on some of the design and typography changes that are planned, including an important meeting this week at the Kinston Enterprise Center.

“We are moving some things around, but we are not married to one absolute, final product yet,” Hanks said. “It’s still a fluid process and I welcome the input from our readers.”

Strong attention to local news will continue, but there will be more of an effort to get what Hanks calls “micro-local” news in The Free Press.

“If it’s happening in Lenoir, Greene or Jones counties, we want our readers to know about it,” he said. “Whether it’s your church, your child’s recreation team or your service club, it’s going to be in The Free Press.”

There will be more community-driven features, including a new “Good News Page” in every edition of the paper that will focus on specific areas each day. A look back at what was happening in the pages of The Free Press 100, 75, 50, 25 and 10 years ago will also be in every edition.

Regular features in The Free Press, such as the lineup for comics, are not changing. There will be some features added, as well as new regional content produced by the newspaper’s Halifax Media Group partners in Eastern North Carolina.

Check out Hanks’ Sunday column this weekend for more details about the new Free Press.